154 M. Walpers on the Irregular Form 



the imaginary floral axis^ and generally has lengthwise a la- 

 terally compressed form arising from the unilateral adhesion 

 of the ovules. 



The pod of the LeguminoscB from its situation must always 

 be viewed as that one of the five carpellary fruit which is 

 furthest removed from the floral axis^ — it is then the inferior 

 ovarium in the flower which is developed, while the four su- 

 perior ones prove abortive; for I have found the flores resu- 

 pinati of the Leguminosce on more accurate examination to 

 be constantly produced by the twisting of the peduncle. 

 This twisting it is true usually takes place in the bud state, 

 and descriptive botany has rarely taken this into considera- 

 tion. 



The eccentricity of the individual ovaries from the floral 

 axis is demonstrated not merely by the Affonsea which has 

 been already mentioned, but also by those cases where se- 

 veral ovaries occur in one flower ; thus I have observed in 

 Ccesalpinia digyna, Willd., Herb. No. 8026, that the two ova- 

 ries do not stand as might be expected with their broad sides 

 parallel with one another, but in imperfect opposition, so that 

 on the one (the right) side, one, and on the other (the left) side, 

 two ovaries must be supposed to have been abortive. 



The calyx in all Papilionacece is composed of five sepals, cor- 

 responding to the number of petals* ; these enter into the most 

 varied cohesions inter se ; in most cases, however, they are 

 united at least to some extent into a tube or cup, &c. and only 

 free at the apex. Exceedingly few cases of the calyx occurring 

 quinquepartite to the base in the fully developed papiliona- 

 ceous flower are mentioned by authors, although in the em- 

 bryonal state of the bud, as Schleiden and Vogel have demon- 

 strated in their excellent ' Beitragen zur Entwicklungsge- 

 schichte der Bliithentheile bei den Leguminosen/ (Nov. Act. 

 Ac. Caes. Leop. Carol. Nat. Cur. vol. xix. p. 1.) all the subse- 

 quently cohering parts of the flower are then free, and in the 

 course of development these parts, still consisting of delicate 

 parenchyma, at first cohere from intimate reciprocal pressure. 



* Sj;range enough, Bischoff still describes the corolla papilionacea as ge- 

 nerally consisting of four petals. — Handbuch der botan. Terminologie, p. 

 333. 



